This is an application for partial funding of a conference on "Antioxidant Nutrients in the Cellular Biology of Health and Disease." This conference will be held under the auspices of FASEB, August 12-17, 1995. It is in part a follow-up to the very successful conference entitled "Vitamin C and E in Free Radical Reactions" held in 1992. Numerous studies indicate that oxidative alteration of biomolecules is related to the incidence and prevalence of various diseases. A growing literature indicates that antioxidants may delay the onset and/or progress of these diseases. This is a burgeoning field with some controversial "findings" and applications, and with a surfeit of health claims. Much of this work is being closely monitored by persons responsible for redetermining "recommended daily allowances?? of antioxidant nutrients. This conference will present a contemporary view of molecular biological, biochemical, and physiological mechanisms of action of antioxidants, as well as their role in cell biology, disease and disease prevention. Approximately 155 participants will be chosen from among scientists most likely to share new information and to contribute to stimulating exchanges of ideas. Speakers or poster presenters will be persons with significant recent achievements in the area. After introductory comments, the conference will begin with consideration of "methodological and molecular" questions. We will next proceed to consideration of physiological and biochemical questions. Planned presentations will conclude with a brief review of the roles of antioxidants in health and disease, and a perspective for the future, including attempts to alter organisms using molecular biological approaches. The last morning is saved for short, oral presentations of those posters which were evaluated as most important or provocative. The major session topics will be: 1) Recent advances in the chemistry and quantitation of oxidative damage and antioxidant function; 2) Absorption and biokinetics of antioxidants; 3) Role of antioxidants in signal transduction mechanisms and cell signalling; 4) New developments in antioxidant reactivity, regeneration, and decay; 5) Redox regulation of gene expression; 6) Interaction between DNA, protein, carbohydrate, and lipoproteins and membranes with reactive oxygen species and antioxidants; 7) Roles of antioxidants in health and disease; 8) Oral presentations of selected posters. There will also be two 2-day poster presentations. This conference should provide a forum for and encourage dialogue between contributors from a broad variety of disciplines in which basic questions can be freely discussed and results evaluated. The aggregate result should be a contemporary perspective and overview of this rapidly moving field. This overview should provide guidance for future directions in research.